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THE LESSON OF THE HOUR. 




JUSTICE AS WELL AS MERCY. 



A DISCOURSE 



PREACHED ON THE SABBATH FOIJ.OWIXr; THE 



Assassination of the President, 



IN THE 



CAPITOL HIL1 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



WASHINGTON, I > . ( 



BY THE I'ASTOK. 



REV. JOHN CHESTER. 




WASHINGTON CHRONICLE PRINT 
I8S5. 



THE LESSON OF THE HOUR. 

JUSTICE AS WELL AS MERCY, 




A DISCOURSE 



'PREACHED ON THE SABBATH FOLLOWING THE 



Assassination of the President, 



CAPITOL HILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

WASHINGTON, D. C . , 

BY THE PASTOR, 

REV. JOHN CHESTER. 



WASHINGTON CHRONICLE PRIN' 
1865. 



M 






Washington, April 17, 1865. 
REV. JOHN CHESTER. 

Reverend and Dear Sir : 

The undersigned, of the Congregation and Members of the Capitol 
Hill Presbyterian Church, being impressed with the importance of the 
truths conveyed in your eloquent and appropriate discourse of last Sab- 
bath, on the assassination of the honored and beloved President of the 
Republic, Abraham Lincoln, and believing that the thoughts therein 
conveyed arc worthy of perusal and careful consideration by a more 
extended circle, respectfully request a copy of it for publication. 

WALTER L. NICHOLSON, 
C. H. PARSONS, 
ROBERT LEITCH, 
CHAS. E. LATHROP, 
J. S. KELLOGG, 
JAS. M. GORDON, 
JOHN R. ARRISON, 
JOHN TAYLOR. 



To Messrs. Walter L. Nicholson, C. H. Parsons, Robert Leitch, Charles 
E. Latfvrop, and others. 

Gentlemen : 

I cheerfully yield to your kind request, if you deem this humble 
offering of affection, laid on the altar of our beloved President's mem- 
ory, capable of benefiting a wider circle. It was intended as a calm 
appeal, not to the passions, but to the consciences of all who desire the 
integrity of the Union, maintained on the principles of Justice, 

Very truly yours, 

JOHN CHESTER. 



SERMON. 



"HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN 1 ." — II SAMUEL, 1, 19. 

The President of the United States is dead ! He whom for 
more than four years we have looked up to more as a father 
than a ruler ; the kind-hearted, the true-hearted, the wise- 
hearted President has fallen. 

A few days ago I saw him standing at the window of his 
mansion, his face irradiated with a genial smile, which showed 
the warm heart within. I heard the kind, generous, forbear- 
ing words he spoke in the hours of triumph, and heard the cry 
ascend from many a lip, in a tone that showed it came from the 
heart, "God bless you, Abraham Lincoln." A few hours ago, 
at midnight, a messenger knocked at my door, and breathed in 
faltering accents the awful tidings, " The President is mur- 
dered ! !" 

Oh, can it be? Is it not a dream? Can it be, that even in 
this sinful world sin has reached such a height as to assassi- 
nate our Chief Magistrate, and folly such a pitch as to murder 
him whose leniency they now so much needed ? 

But an hour of trial is an hour of duty. While God permits his 
people to weep, and even sympathizes with them in their sorrow, 
yet he summons them to fulfil their stern duty. You have 
come this morning to the sanctuary of God, not only to pray 
and praise, but to be taught your duty. It is, I believe, the 
time when the minister of the Gospel is charged with a grave 
and responsible task. That task is like Aaron's of old, when 



he stood " between the living and the dead."* Then, as now, 
the crime of rebellion had brought a fearful judgment on the 
people. God commanded his ministers, Moses and Aaron, to 
direct the people to separate themselves from the leaders of that 
rebellion, that a righteous judgment might overtake them.t 
Jehovah changes not. The principle of justice on which he 
deals with his creatures changes not. The message which he 
entrusted to his ministers then to deliver to his people, is the 
message which we believe he entrusts to them now. 

But first, let us take our own place in the dust before his 
throne. " I and my people have sinned." God is punishing as 
for these sins. We have been proud, and depended too much 
on our own strength. God has shown us how weak and de- 
fenceless we are without his strengthening and sheltering arm. 
We have trusted too much to the wisdom of our rulers and the 
>kill of our generals. God has removed the one, and by an 
hair-breadth escape, shown how easily He could have removed 
the other. He wants to withdraw us from leaning too heavilv 
on the feeble arm of man, that we may lean more on that of tr e 
Almighty. We have permitted that accursed thing, human 
slavery, to grow up and flourish under a Constitution which 
proclaimed liberty to the oppressed. We have permitted men 
to fill the high places of the nation whose wealth has been ex- 
torted from the sweat of the brow of the oppressed, and whose 
power has been maintained by their blood. God has made us 
to shed our blood to defend our country from the assaults of 
these men on its liberties. 

And now He has put the cup again to our lips. We thought 
it had been drained to its bottom ; but Ave had yet to taste its 
dregs— the bitterest draught of all. Our President has been 
assassinated ! ! 
jOiir President, we say, for he was emphatically the people's 

♦Numbers xvi: 48. 
fNumbers xvl: 24-26. 



President, chosen by their hearts as well as by their votes. 
One who had the affection of the masses more than any who 
preceded him, (except it be Washington.) One who was es- 
teemed by the lovers of liberty throughout the world. One 
whose most prominent trait was kindness of heart to all. One 
who stood firm " amid the raging of the people," and conscien- 
tiously and fearlessly discharged his duty amid the taunts and 
sneers of a vile faction. One who guided the helm of State so 
skillfully amid the Scylla of domestic treason and the Charybdis 
of foreign intervention, that it extorted from the press of Eng- 
land and Europe a reluctant but necessary admiration. This 
man has fallen! Just at the period when the sun of our coun- 
try had reached its meridian splendor, his sun was suddenly 
eclipsed. 

And now, who is to answer for the blood of this man ? 

It should be laid at. the door of those people of the so-called 
"Southern Confederacy," who have in their public press clam- 
ored for the commission of this very deed; who have advertised 
for means to carry out the diabolical scheme ;* who have asked 
contributions to it as "toward a patriotic purpose ;" and at the 
door of men who would permit such things to appear in their 
public press unrebuked. 

It should be laid again at the door of that spirit of rebellion 
against the rightful authority, which they have fostered in their 
hearts and acted out in their lives. The very same spirit which 



*The following appears in the advertising columns of the Selma (Ala.) Despatch, 
copied in the National Republican January 26, 1865: 

" One Million Dollars Wanted to have Peace by the 1st of March. — If the citi. 
"zens of theSouthern Confederacy will furnish me with the cash, or good securities, for 
" the sum of one million dollars, I will cause the lives of Abraham Lincoln, William H. 
" Seward, and Andrew Johnson to he taken by the 1st of March next. This will give us 
" Peace, and satisfy the world that cruel tyrants cannot live in a "land of liberty." If 
■ ' this is not accomplished, nothing will be claimed beyond the sum of fifty thousand dol- 
"lars, in advance, which is supposed to be necessary to reach and slaughter the three 
" villains. 

'• I will give, myself, one thousand dollars towards this patriotic purpose. Every 
"one wishing to contribute will address Box K. Cahaba, Alabama. 

" December 1, 1864." 



8 

would strike a blow at the Government of this country is the 
very spirit that would strike one at the head of that Govern- 
ment. The very war that the South inaugurated four years 
ago by concentrating the fire of a dozen forts upon a helpless 
garrison, in the harbor of Charleston, is the very spirit that 
would make an assassin skulk behind an unprotected man and 
fire upon him. The very spirit that would delight in the mise- 
ries of the captives who fell into their hands — which would 
starve them to death in their prisons — which would hunt them 
with blood-hounds when they tried to escape from the horrid 
bondage — which would light with the incendiary torch the 
dwellings of our Northern cities, is the v,ery one that would 
revel in the thought that the fatal blow had been inflicted on 
the head of our President. 

It should be laid at the door of Slavery. The very same 
spirit which has held so long thousands of its fellow men, born 
in the image of God, in bondage — which would sell them at the 
auction block like cattle — which would lacerate them with the 
whip — which would stand by and see husband and wife and 
parent and child separated for the sake of money, and yet de- 
fend slavery as a "Divine institution," is the very same spirit 
which the Savior spoke of when he said " Verily, he who kill- 
eth you will think he doeth God service." It is the very school 
whose course of education could graduate such an assassin as 
him who crept up to a sick man's bed under the pretence of 
mercy, and then endeavored to murder him as he lay in all the 
helplessness of suffering. Slavery has begot many such chil- 
dren, and now, in her last dying throes, she has brought forth 
this Monstrosity of Sin. 

It should be laid at the doors of those in tin- North who hare 
aided and sympathized with the rebels — who have tried to weak- 
en the hands of this Government while it was endeavoring to 
maintain its rightful authority — who have held up our kind 



9 

President as " a tyrant " who ought to be deposed — who have 
heaped names upon him which, if true, would make him merit 
death — who have taught this people in secret societies to plot 
treason, and encouraged armed resistance to the efforts of the 
Government to draft soldiers for its defence. Who can dare 
deny that the very spirit that manifested itself in the city of 
New York in the summer of 1863 is the very spirit that man- 
ifested itself in the city of Washington during this last week ? 
That those who would burn down an Orphan Asylum, and 
roast Negroes in the streets, would not hesitate to perpetrate 
the crime of assassinating the President? 

Just as the clothes of that holy man Stephen were laid at 
the feet of " that young man Saul," who, though not casting a 
stone himself, sympathized with those that did, and therefore. 
" consented to his death," so ought the clothes — the blood- 
stained garments of our President — to be laid at the feet of 
these men, yea, women, saying, " What hast thou done ? the 
voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto God from the ground 
against thee." 

I trust that I address none such this morning, but if one 
such is under the sound of my voice, I warn you that you have 
blood on your skirts — that it becomes you this day to repent of 
your sins if you wish to escape the justice of God and the jaws 
of hell. 

And now, we approach a part of this subject to which is invited 
your most serious and thoughtful consideration. It is a point 
to which I have myself given much prayerful attention, and 
which certainly demands the same of every well-wisher of his 
country. I ask no one to adopt these views without first com- 
paring them with the teachings of the Bible ; but I ask you also 
not to reject them without the same examination. 

The question is, whether this sad calamity is not meant in 
mercy, to rouse us to act justly towards the leaders and foment- 



10 

ers of this rebellion ? Four years ago the people of this coun- 
try could hardly be made to believe that, if the Union was to 
be preserved, the whole armed power of the Government must 
be called into requisition, and conciliatory measures exchanged 
for forcible suppression. Then came that attack on Fort Sum- 
ter, which dissipated the theory of pacification to the winds, 
and forced from loyal people of the North the cry for vengeance 
on the men who were dipping their swords in the life-blood of 
the Republic. Just so now. God finds some of this people, 
after a struggle which has cost rivers of blood, expecting to end 
this nefarious rebellion by conciliatory measures with its lead- 
ers and fomenters. Let conciliatory measures be shown in 
abundance to their poor deluded followers, who have long since 
seen their folly, and for many months have longed to hear the 
tramp of that army which should free them from their oppres- 
sors. But to the men whose hands are stained with the blood 
of our fathers, brothers and sons — to the men who have, by the 
most wicked lies, " fired the Southern heart " — whose hearts 
have not one particle of repentance, but who would still destroy 
this Government if they had the power — to such let justice (we 
do not ask for revenge, only for justice) be meted out. Let it 
be a justice that will deprive them of the opportunity of repeat- 
ing ih<* crime. 

We claim this as a duty enjoined on our rulers by the Word 
of God. God has given them on this subject, the following 
plain directions: — " Let every soul be subject unto the higher 
powers. For there is ho power bat of God: the powers that 
be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the 
(lower, resisteth the ordinance of God : and they that resist shnll 
receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror 
to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the 
power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of 
the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good." 



11 

That is, Government is not to be feared except by evil doers. 
But that God does intend it shall be feared by evil doers, 
and that they shall not escape punishment is evident, for he 
adds, " But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he 
beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God."' 
That is, he acts as the delegated authority of God, and as such 
God commands him to be " a revenger, to execute wrath upon 
him that doeth evil." Now we present to the consciences of 
any who have scruples on this subject, this question : Can 
this Government refuse "to execute wrath upon those who 
have done evil " by resisting its rightful authority, when God 
says in so doing they have resisted him? Can they do it with- 
out disobeying the plain injunction of His Word ? Do you 
want to know how God views rebellion ? You will find hi- 
opinion in I Samuel, xv: 23 — " For rebellion is as the sin of 
witchcraft ;" and the punishment he commanded to be deab to 
the witch, you will find. in Exodus, xxii: 18 — "Thou shalt not 
suffer a witch to live." Yes, this people are now in danger of 
the very sin which they were guilty of before this war. Then 
they were in danger of having a sinful complicity with slavery 
by undue leniency to the crimes of the slaveholders. Now may 
they not be in danger of a sinful complicity with rebellion by 
an undue leniency to the crimes of its leaders ? 

But it is urged that we ought to be merciful to our enemies 
if we wish to obtain mercy in the day of judgment. Well, if 
the Bible is true, no one will obtain mercy at God's hands that 
does not first repent of his sins. " Repent and believe, and ye 
shall be saved." Yea, they must first forsake them. " Let 
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man hi> 
thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have 
mercy upon him ; and to our God, for He will abundantly pax- 
don." Let these men show a sincere and hearty repentance 
of their sin of rebellion; let them return unto this Government 
with a full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience, and 



12 

we admit that leniency ought to be shown them. But when 
they are captured in their sins; fighting to the very last 
moment, and only giving up because they are conquered ; not 
because they are less desirous of success, then we say treat 
them just as God will treat the man whom he finds rebelling 
against him at the hour of death, giving up then his course of 
sin only because he has not the opportunity of pushing it 
further. 

But it is urged again Christ prayed for the forgiveness of his 
enemies, and we should imitate his spirit and forgive ours. 
Yes, but the same Savior wept over those very enemies, be- 
cause he saw their persistent rebellion must cause the wrath 
of God to come upon them and their guilty city;* for even his 
mercy had no longer any argument why justice should forbear 
to punish. If you will read the account of Josephus, of how 
God permitted the crucifiers of Christ to 'be punished in the 
destruction of Jerusalem, you will read a catalogue of horrors 
such as even this war cannot equal. Oh, yes, God punishes 
the wicked when they do not repent of their sins and return to 
Him, and wo to that land whose rulers bear the sword in vain, 
when God has given it to them "to be a revenger to execute 
wrath upon him that doeth evil." There may be such a thing 
as mistaking a complicity with sin for mercy. 

No, we put this question to you : Is there a man or woman 
who would dare to advocate the doctrine that if the assassin of 
Mr. Lincoln could be found he should be permitted to go free. 
But why is his guilt so extraordinary? Not only because he 
murdered a being created in the image of God. You feel that 
there was something more than this. What most stirs our 
hearts and arouses our righteous indignation, is the fact that 
he was our President ; that in him was embodied the Govern- 
ment of this land. Yet these men who have been for four years 

Luke x\x : 41-44. 



13 

aiming a parricidal blow at this very Government some con- 
tend should go free. 

I am well aware of the cry that may be raised at ministers 
of the Gospel advocating such sentiments ; but just so was it 
raised years ago, when ministers of the Gospel undertook to 
denounce slavery and the complicity of this Government with 
it as a sin against God and man. This country has lived to 
see that they were right, and only to regret that it did not 
sooner heed the warning. So now the time will come as surely 
as there is a righteous God, when, if this people let this sin of 
rebellion go unpunished, they will repent it in sackcloth and 
ashes. 

Methinks I see rising from the dead a host of wounded, man- 
gled bodies, in whom is recognized the forms of our sons, 
brothers, fathers, who have lain weltering in blood before the 
skilfully erected fortifications of our adversaries ; or who died 
of wasting disease while waiting through long, weary months 
on the Peninsula, striving to capture the citadel of rebellion ; 
or who were starved to death by a slow but sure process in 
Belle Isle and Andersonville. Methinks I see their skeleton 
fingers pointing to these men — these leaders— walking our 
streets in undisturbed repose, having a safe conduct given them 
to their homes, or an easy passage to distant lands, where they 
can wave their laurels amidst the paeans of admiring sympa- 
thizers. I see them thus rise from the dead and demand of 
this Republic : — Is this the fruit of our labors ; the reward of 
our suffering ? Is this what you call mercy ? If it is, why 
then did you not show it to us ? You asked our blood to save 
the country, while you spare the blood of these men who have 
tried to destroy it! Oh, yes, "the voice of the blood of our 
patriots crieth unto God from the ground for vengeance." 

This, then, we believe to he the lesson of the hour. The im- 
portance of inflicting the heaviest penalties of the law on the 






14 

unprincipled, unrepentant leaders and instigators of this rebel- 
lion, while mercy is shown, with a wise discrimination, to their 
misguided and repentant followers. 

Under the light of this truth, the duty of the hour also be- 
comes plain: — To see that by the hands of the lawful authori- 
ties this punishment is meted out, and to uphold their hands in 
tbeir endeavors to do it. Refrain from all acts that would take 
the law into your own hands. We have law in this land, and, 
thank God, we have proved over and over during the last four 
years that we have power to execute it. If it is important that 
it should be executed, it is equally important that it should be 
executed by the lawfully constituted authorities. Next to re- 
bellion there is nothing worse than mob law. It is anarchy, 
and anarchy is the sister spirit of rebellion. We have every 
reason to believe, from the history of his past life, that our 
present President will not shrink from doing his whole duty in 
this respect. Let us hold up his hands if we wish to see the 
majesty of the law vindicated, and the country purged of 
treason. 

The next duty is to possess our souls in peace as to fears of 
personal injury. At such a time as this there is naturally a 
fear of personal violence. When assassins are abroad even 
good men tremble. But, my hearer, your safety is in doing 
your duty to your God and country. Such He hides under the 
shadow of His wings. Or, if they fall at their posts, he gives 
them a martyr's crown. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
will give thee a crown of life." But oh, learn the uncertainty 
of life, and the necessity of constant preparation for death. 
Then you can look death in the face with calmness, in what- 
ever form it may come. 

Be reminded also by this calamity of the necessity of con- 
stant prayer for the preservation of the lives of your rulers. 
Probably all of us in our time of triumph have had a feeling of 



15 

security concerning them, which made us relax our efforts in 
this particular. What a lesson have we received in the neces- 
sity of its constant practice. Yes, let us also remember "to 
commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doiDg, as unto 
a faithful Creator," that His grace may swell in their hearts, 
and His wisdom inspire their minds. 

And now, amid the gloom which naturally gathers around 
your hearts, let me point you to some encouraging truths. 
God is still on His throne. Blessed truth! Yea, though 
" clouds and darkness are round about Him, righteousness and 
judgment are the habitation of His throne." He may hide His 
face from us for a moment, but it no more affects his purposes of 
mercy than the passing cloud affects the undiminished glories 
of the sun. He may even suffer our rulers to be assassinated 
by the hands of wicked men, just as he permitted his chosen, 
anointed king, Saul, to be pierced by the arrow of the wicked. 
But it will no more affect the stability of our Government than 
it did that of Israel's. Then God raised up a David to avenge 
the fearful crime, and gave Israel a power and a glory which 
it had never before reached. Human governments which have 
been instituted by God will also be maintained by Him. Who 
can doubt that the Government of this country, laid amid the 
prayers of so many of His precious saints, and baptised with 
the blood of our fathers in the Revolution, was instituted by 
Him? Verily, then, He will maintain it. Verily, He has 
already given us an earnest of the fact. He has parted the 
waters of this rebellion, and enabled our rulers to bear the ark 
of our liberties safely through the bloody sea. Verily that 
ark he will still preserve, until, after its perilous journeyings, 
it finds a permanent abode in the inmost shrine of freedom's 
temple. 

And now we visit, in thought, the lifeless body of our late 
President. 



^ 



1G 

Lay there quietly in thy last sleep, oh beloved dust ! ! 
Around thy body the sentinels this day keep watch, but around 
thy memory our hearts shall keep guard in this generation, and 
then commit the sacred trust to our children's children. 

Sleep there calmly. Thou under whose Administration a 
race has broken its shackles and risen from its degradation. 
Over thy bier this day, that race is shedding more heartfelt 
tears than ever before moistened the couch of an earthly ruler. 

Sleep there, environed by all the glory of thy nation's fame. 
Thou, who enteredst the Presidential chair in the time of thy 
nation's trial, and left it not until thine eyes beheld its triumph. 
The lovers of freedom throughout the world respect thy worth. 

Sleep there, eloquent even in death. " Though being dead, 
thou yet speaketh." " Thy blood crieth unto God from the 
ground for vengeance." The assassin's weapon only deprived 
thy body of life ; thou still livest, enshrined in our hearts, 
and nations yet unborn shall rise up and call thee blessed. 



LB My '13 



